Jack of all Trades
by HypnoLullaby
Summary: Ever wondered what it would be like if Naruto wasn't so Disney? I have, and I decided to write it down. First chapter is just the starter, so don't judge the story by it, please. If you like, please Review. It helps more than you think!
1. Chapter 1

Jack-of-all-Trades

Chapter 1

Meet Karasu

_ Kunai, check. Explosive tags, check. Ninja wire, check. Senbon, check. Hyorogan, check. Alright. I'm good to go._ Karasu thought to himself.

The white-haired boy was hiding among the bushes, keeping a watching eye on Yamato, his soon-to-be sensei. He was, along with his new teammates Sakura and Sasuke, given the task of stealing the bells that were hanging from Yamato's pocket. It was a way of testing them and seeing if they were worthy of being Genin. _If I was as good as dad I would be a Jounin by now..._

He shook his head, cutting off the negative thoughts and focusing on his target again. _Yamato's a Jounin. He's the real deal, not your every day idiot. He won't fall for cheap tricks, so I have to be unpredictable._

He looked around the field until he spotted his two partners. Sasuke was hiding in bushes, just like him, devising a plan. Sakura was farther away, as if waiting to see what would happen. She couldn't take her eyes off of Sasuke._ Sasuke's a lone wolf like me and Sakura is here to watch like some fangirl. I bet I won't get to use any teamwork with them, so I guess I have to do it by myself. Ok. Here goes!_

Wait, let's go back a bit.

Meet Hatake Karasu, recently promoted Genin, a Genius without flaw, a lonesome orphan. These are the words that the villagers use to describe the spiky, white-haired boy.

Karasu was tall for his 11 years of age and in shape. He had black eyes, though the left one was covered by his tilted forehead protector.

He usually wore a pair of black combat pants, a dark t-shirt, elbow and knuckle protectors and shin guards. Other distinctive features of his outfit were the dark mask that covered the bottom half of his face, which had a sharp-toothed grin on it as a custom style, and the katana on his back that was so uncommon among low-class ninjas.

Of course, low-class ninja was not something that could be used to describe him. He was marked as a genius ever since his first class in the Academy. He was a 10/10 in ninjutsu, taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, genjutsu, anatomy and any other subject that they took part on in the school. He was second-to-none, and the only one who was close to his grades was Uchiha Sasuke, another genius.

His talent is not uncommon though, as all known members of his family were considered geniuses in their generation. Hatake Sakumo and Hatake Kakashi being the most famous, are a perfect example of how excellency runs in the family. Sakumo was known among a lot of other villages as "Konoha's White Fang", and Kakashi was known for becoming a Jounin at 13, cutting a lightning bolt in half with a jutsu before it struck the ground and copying over 1000 techniques with his Sharingan.

But for every fire, there's water, for every good, there's evil, and for every light, there is darkness. Excellency was not the only thing that ran in the family. Suicide was too. Sakumo, Karasu's grandfather, had killed himself after being shunned for quitting a mission in order to save his friends, leaving the young Kakashi an orphan. Kakashi himself had put an end to his own life when Karasu was 9 years old. No one knew why, though when asked about it, the Third said Kakashi had gone through a whole lot in his life, and deserved rest.

Deprived of parents, for his mother had died at his birth, Karasu had nothing to turn to but his shinobi life. He put every single minute he had into his training, and even tried to study when he dreamed. This resulted in him becoming a perfect specimen of the shinobi race, at least, until then.

He rapidly mastered jutsu that the Academy students could only dream of, and perfected techniques that not even his father or grandfather had been able to perfect. He sped through school exams like a breeze and couldn't help but recriminate himself for being a Genin when his father had been a Chuunin at his age. He constantly pushed himself further, and that resulted in him graduating the Academy with a perfect file and grades.

And that is why he was there, hiding in the bushes and waiting his chance of striking down Yamato. That is why he was ready to use killing force to recover the two bells. If he defeated this Jounin by himself, he'd surely be given a shot at the Chuunin Shiken!

After a moment of thought, he decided to put everything into one strike, something the brown-haired adult wouldn't expect. Something that would be enough of a distraction to let Karasu grab those bells.

He tied every exploding tag to a kunai and senbon to those as well. He ate a Hyorogan pill and threw every kunai at Yamato.

The brown-haired Jounin almost had no time to react as he jumped away from the barrage of kunai, barely getting out of range of the explosions.

That wasn't the end of the attack as every senbon was blown away in a different direction, making it impossible to dodge. Yamato got stuck a few times before the Kawarimi kicked in. He appeared again a few meters down on one knee and taking a deep breath, looking at the Karasu that was running towards him. _Obvious trick. I guess the real one will be coming from behind._ He thought to himself.

Yamato turned around to see nothing. Realizing he had been deceived, he quickly performed the handsigns and created a Mokuton Bunshin, which stood between him and the Genin that held a lightning-covered fist.

"That's the risk of using Chidori, you can't really concentrate on more than one target. My Bunshin will stop you."- the Jounin commented. Karasu's faint smile, barely noticeable through his mask made him pale as his Bunshin was pulled down into the earth, his head being the only thing that stuck out of the ground.

It was too late when Yamato noticed the boy had made a Kage Bunshin use the Doton: Double Suicide Decapitation technique, and the lightning-covered fist was inches away from connecting, since there was nothing there to stop it.

"That's the risk of being arrogant, you fail to see through techniques that wouldn't deceive an Academy student!"- Karasu punched through a wooden Yamato, realizing it was another Mokuton Bunshin.

"Huh, and they said you were a genius. Mokuton: Wooden Prison!"- the Jounin proclaimed behind him, wooden pillars growing out of the ground to surround Karasu. But after a second or two, Karasu vanished, as if he was a mirage, and Yamato felt a presenced behind him.

He turned around to face a gigantic fireball that was coming straight at him, and he could do nothing but trip and fall back, letting the fireball go over him, leaving him unharmed. Karasu came out of the ground and yanked one of the bells out of Yamato's pocket, a satisfied smile on his face.

"H-How?"- Yamato asked.

"I am very good with Genjutsu, and made you believe my real self was the one holding the Chidori. I also made the illusion of a fireball come through, distracting you and making you think Sasuke had gotten in the battle. After that, it was easy to get my hands on this."- Karasu replied with an expressionless face, swaying the bell left and right like a pendulum. He turned around and started walking away.- "If that's all for today, see you."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

You call these Missions?

After his utter defeat, Yamato had no option but to pass all three of them and become their "sensei". He wasn't really used to this whole mentor thing, since he had been an ANBU agent for quite some time and his life was limited to following orders.

Therefore, he decided he'd just stick with following orders. The standard procedure was to have the Genins take on D and C-rank missions. Picking up trash, painting houses, walking dogs, catching Tora the cat. Just those crappy, petty assignments everyone had to take on when they were young. Hell, Yamato's first memory was of his father telling him how he also had to catch Tora when he was young.

These assignments were made to fuel the village's economy, to fortify the ninja's loyalty towards the village and to let them know that no matter how little, everyone had a job in the big beehive that was Konoha. Of course, most of the students were really young, and didn't understand these things, which led to reactions such as this one:

"You call these missions? A five year old could take them on! We're supposed to be ninjas, not community service workers!"- Sasuke complained to his new sensei as he sat on a bench in a park. All of team 7 had been informed to meet there in order to know each other a bit better, but of course, it wasn't going well.

"Sasuke-kun, please calm down, everyone has to do these missions first, we'll get to better ones later!"- Sakura pleaded.

"No! I'm Grade A ninja, I shouldn't be doing this kind of crap!"- he complained again. Karasu sighed.

"Listen up."- he said, getting their attention.- "I've got perfect grades and skills that outmatch most Chuunin in this village. I don't like these missions either, they're boring as fuck, but orders are orders and we have to follow them. Ninja that don't follow the rules are trash. Now, you make a choice. You either shut up and take these crappy missions, with a smile, professionally, or you turn around and walk home."

This was enough to shut the duck-tail haired boy up, but not good for their "team bonding". Yamato sighed and sat up.

"Obviously, we haven't started in the right foot, so let's try again. Say your name, your age, why you became a ninja, what you like and hate and what your goal in life is. I'll go first."- he sat down again.- "My name is Yamato, I'm 23 years old, I became a ninja because I want to protect this village, I love architecture, I hate disobedience and my goal in life is to die knowing I've helped create a new generation of ninja to protect the village I love. What about you, pink-haired girl? Want to go next?"

"Sure, sensei! My name is Haruno Sakura, I'm 12 years old, I became a ninja because I want to prove that Kunoichis are just as good as male ninjas, I love a certain person."- at this part she blushed and looked at Sasuke.- " And there's not much I hate. My goal in life is to find real love!"

"Very well. What about you?"- Yamato asked, turning to Sasuke who was back to his broody, silent mood.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I am 12 years old, I became a ninja to gain power. I hate pretty much everything and there's nothing I particularly like..."- Sakura sighed at this part.- "My life's objective is to kill a certain someone and rebuild my clan."

"I see. I guess that leaves you."- Yamato turned to the white-haired boy who sat very casually.- "Hey, you're Kakashi senpai's kid, right?"

"That would be correct. My name is Hatake Karasu. I am 11 years old and I became a ninja to follow in my family's footsteps. I hate ninja who don't follow rules and arrogant people. The only thing I really love is a nice cold soda. My goal in life is to become a top ninja, to fulfill as many missions for Konoha as I possibly can and to rebuild my clan, since the only alive member of it is myself."- this answer was so formal and crystal clear that Yamato almost shivered. _You haven't recovered from your father's death, have you Karasu?_

"Ok, I hope we all know a bit more of each other now. The Hokage called us in to get our next mission, so we should get going."

Ten minutes later, they all stood in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, "The Teacher", "The God of Shinobi", who's sole presence demanded the utmost respect.

"Well, hello to the four of you! How are you all doing?"- of course, his way of speaking had nothing to do with his status, since he treated every single villager as his close family.

"Hello, Hokage-sama. We won't disturb you for long. You said you had a mission for us?"- Yamato replied. The Hokage chuckled at the Jounin's attempt at showing him the modesty that he so deserved before taking a file out of the desk's drawer.

"We've just received a new mission. I like to keep track of all the shinobi teams and what missions they take. We have been particularly hard on you, and I thought you deserved a break from those petty missions. This one is for escorting Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves, back home, and defend him from any thiefs or bandits. You get some action, you get to visit another country, and if you're lucky, you might even get to swim in the nice salty sea water. What do you say?"- he asked. Everyone was shocked. The Hokage was known for being nice, but this was great. They all thanked him and accepted the mission with smiles on their faces before leaving.

"Hokage-sama is awesome!"- Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke smirked and Yamato smiled, but Karasu knew what that actually was. _By giving us what we wanted while not giving us a particularly hard mission that might end in injury, the Hokage managed to keep our morale up and fortify our loyalty for him. He's truly a smart person._

And with that, they all went to their homes, making plans to meet up at the village's gate the next day to start their mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Demon Brothers and the Demon

Nine in the morning, the team was all present by the village's gate. Everyone was ready, except perhaps for Sakura who kept yawning.

"Someone stayed up past their bedtime."- Tazuna commented. Tazuna was a man in his sixties who looked grumpy and smelled like sake. He wore the clothes of a fisher. A straw hat, a dark, sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He carried a towel around his head and a pair of small glasses. He was relatively tall and his physique was also relatively built. His spiky hair and beard were both gray.

"Sorry, Tazuna-san. I couldn't sleep yesterday."- the pink-haired girl quickly excused herself. Yamato facepalmed.

"Tazuna-san, are you ready to begin the trip?"- he asked. Tazuna's mouth formed a perfect "o" and he looked astounded.

"Are you kidding? You mean these are the ninja that will escort me over to the Land of Waves? I paid good money for protection, not for being a babysitter!"- the man complained. Yamato seemed a bit ticked off, but maintained his cool.

"You've paid for a C-rank mission. A C-rank mission normally involves a team of three Genin and one Chuunin or Jounin. I'm a Jounin and they are Genin. Besides, don't worry, they're the best in the village."- the Jounin said.

"Hmph. Fine."- was Tazuna's reply. Karasu cleared his voice.

"Tazuna-san, in order to perform our duties better, can I ask you something? What kind of bandits are you expecting?"- Tazuna was obviously shook by this question and gave him a quick, nervous, half-assed answer.

"Oh, you know. The occasional grunts who hold pitchforks and stuff..."- with that, they quickly began their trip.

It went very smoothly for almost half of the way. They were moving at a fast speed, considering that only one day had passed. They camped and ate a wild boar that Karasu and Sasuke caught.

The following morning, they cleaned up and quickly went back to walking. However, that day promised to be less boring. Not five minutes had passed when they spotted two puddles on the ground.

Karasu, Sasuke and Yamato exchanged looks and carried on as if they suspected nothing. Confirming their thoughts, as soon as they turned their backs on the puddles, they felt movement and heard the noise of chains.

Sakura and Yamato turned around, but Karasu and Sasuke were already in the air. They both backflipped and sped through handsigns.

"KATON: HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!"- both spat three little fireballs that went straight at the two assassins. They wore dark rags, masks and scratched Kirigakure forehead protectors. The thing that most called for attention in them, were their gauntlets. Each of them had a gauntlet and they were both connected by a long, spiked chain that could easily kill if someone were to be caught in it. Of course, that could be a hindrance for the user too.

The two assassins tried to dodge all of the shots, but they eventually pulled away from each other and got stuck by the chain, and took a flame bullet each, which sent them flying against a tree.

"God fucking damn it, Meizu! I told you this chain was going to be a pain in the ass!"- the left one complained.

"Well it's a good fucking thing I installed this button, Gozu!"- a click was heard and the chain fell to the ground, leaving them free to run around.- "Now let's go!"

"Sasuke..."- Karasu called out. The raven-haired boy looked at him and he whispered in his ear. Sasuke smirked and nodded.

"Whatever you two are planning, it won't do you any good!"- Gozu shouted. The two cutthroats each went separate ways to handle the Genin. _Bad idea. _Karasu unsheathed his father's sword and blocked Meizu's gauntlet attack before ducking and kicking him in the chin, sending him flying up. While in mid-air, Meizu couldn't do much but wait, and seconds later Gozu came flying and crashing into his brother, causing both to fall against a tree again. They were just about to stand up when several metres of ninja wire tied them to said tree, leaving them unable to move. Karasu held the strikes, but quickly handed them to Sasuke, who held them with his teeth, A handsign formed with his two hands.

"Now, I want to make this easy on you, so I'll just warn you of the situation. My friend here is quite adept at Katon techniques, and knows one that can fry the two of you just by being in contact with that ninja wire you're tied with. You can stop him from burning you if you tell us who hired you. In that case, we'll let you go. On the other hand..."- he turned to Sasuke, who started spewing embers out of his mouth in order to scare them. The assassins who seemed like twins thought for a moment before spitting at Karasu. Their stupidity was amazing, since they were still wearing masks.- "Very well."

Karasu uncovered his left eye, which was red and had one tomoe. _The Sharingan is a doujutsu from my family. How did this guy get it?_ Sasuke thought, but he remained quiet. The older brother, Gozu, seemed like the leader, and so Karasu looked at him in the eyes. The assassin's body grew stiff and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, leaving him in a comatose state. After that, Karasu lowered his forehead protector again, cutting the chakra flow that went into his Sharingan. Even after all the times he trained with it, it still was a spike in his chakra reserves. He turned to Sasuke.

"You can fry them down."- the Uchiha did not hesitate for even a moment and completed the handseal sequence. His body got covered in fire that ran down the ninja string and burned the screaming twins to ashes in seconds.

"T-That's just cruel! Why on Earth would you do something like that?"- Tazuna asked, absolutely horrified with what he had seen. Karasu glanced at him.

"These two are trained assassins. They're very stupid, so I guess they had a leader. If we let them run off, they'd give out our position and we could have gotten killed. Besides, they were wanted criminals, and the world is better now that they're dead."- he explained with a lot of patience. Tazuna was convinced, but Sakura sure wasn't.

"And why did he fall unconscious? What did you do to him with your Sharingan?"- she asked. Karasu sighed.

"I've said this once and I'll say it again. I'm very good with Genjutsu, and this doujutsu, the Sharingan, only helps. I entered Gozu's mind, I took the intell I needed and I got out. Of course, I'm not a master with Genjutsu yet, so he was left with severe mental damage, and quite possibly, brain death."- Sasuke looked at him with envy. _This guy is probably the best assassin I've ever seen. He can cause brain death with a single glance. He can use ninjutsu like Housenka no jutsu and the Double Suicide Decapitation jutsu, and his taijutsu! He blocked that deadly gauntlet with one sway of his sword and one kick of his sent that guy flying! Fuck me, the Hatake are strong! I guess I've got some catching up to do._

"Did you catch any useful information, Karasu?"- Yamato asked. The Hatake kid nodded and was about to speak when a loud noise was heard. Something was quickly spinning through the air above them.

"DUCK!"- Sasuke warned and they all fell to the floor to let a gigantic spinning sword go through the air where their heads had just been before getting stuck on a tree. A moment later, a tall ninja appeared on top of it.

"As I was about to say, I've discovered the identity of their leader, but nothing else. That's Momochi Zabuza, also known as "The Demon", one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen. He carries KubiKiriBocho with him and he's marked as an A-rank in the bingo book for trying a coup d'état in Kirigakure, being one of the best swordsmen in history, and a master in the art of silent killing."- Karasu explained as they got up to their feet. Sakura was really scared and closed to Tazuna. Yamato was listening calmly and Sasuke was breathing heavily, not from fear, but from frustration.

"So in short words, we're fucked?"- he asked. Karasu turned to him.

"Yeah, pretty much."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bad Situation

"I'm glad to see I'm still known around the many Genin of Konoha. I guess I'm a topic when they teach you about missing nin."- Zabuza commented proudly, looking at the two young ninjas, then turning to the Jounin, Yamato, and finally to the small girl who was in front of Tazuna, the old man, protecting him.- "How cute. You all actually think you can defeat me."

"We don't think. We know we can defeat you. You're a Jounin class missing-nin and you're fighting against a Jounin and three Genin that are considered geniuses in Konoha."- Karasu replied. One of the shinobi rules was to never display weakness in a battle. Of course, deep inside, his thoughts were different. _You don't become a Legendary Swordsman and wield KubiKiriBocho just by becoming a Jounin. It takes work. Only seven people make it to the Legendary Swordsmen of Kirigakure each generation. Not just that, this guy made it into the generation that is considered the best ever. He's got some mad skills for sure, so it's going to be hard to win._- "I've read the Bingo Book about a hundred times, so I know pretty much everything about you. Got blood on your hands at the early age of nine."

"I've heard about that."- Sasuke interveined.- "Kirigakure was known as the village of the bloody mist because every year, they made all of their academy students fight each other to the death, and the one that came out victorious got to become a ninja. Zabuza wasn't even a student but got into the fight and killed all of them without hesitation. From then on, the Academy Deathmatch practice was terminated."

"Exactly. He then began his training to become one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen and after that, became a hired assassin. It's said that he's mastered the Silent Killing technique."- Karasu replied with a smile.- "We know everything about you, but you know nothing about us. The advantage we have over you is significant."

The enemy Jounin looked at them with no expression for a few moments before starting to laugh. He laughed and laughed as if he had just heard the best joke in the world. Yamato decided it was time and performed the Snake handseal. A wooden pillar came out of the ground and went straight for Zabuza who stopped laughing and performed a seal of his own.

"Kirigakure no jutsu!"- after the last word was spelled out, a dense mist formed out of nowhere. It was so dense that their visibility was near zero.- "Let's see how cocky you are when you're blind like that. Get it? See? HA! I SLAY ME!" (Sneaky Skyrim Reference is Sneaky)

They stayed still, waiting for any signs of life. _If I was him, what would I do? He was hired to kill Tazuna, and the only one who's protecting him right now is..._

"SAKURA, WATCH OUT!"- he shouted.

"Too late."- the mist dissipated a bit and they could see Zabuza right between Sakura and Tazuna. The assassin spun and sliced with his blade, and for a second it seemed like he was going to cut both the Genin and the bridge builder in half. Of course, Konoha ninja weren't considered the best for nothing, and Zabuza's KubiKiriBocho quickly stopped when a wooden wall rose to block it. The wall quickly changed and became spikes that curled around the blade and headed towards the missing-nin, who dodged all of them, but was unable to tell what was coming for him.

"KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!"- Sasuke spat a huge fireball that hit Zabuza straight in the face. Or at least, that's what it looked like, but as Zabuza dissolved into water upon hit, they realized it was just a stupid Mizu Bunshin. Again, the mist thickened.

"Tough ones, are you? I've fought your kind many times. They end up dying really gruesomely. I've got all day to play cat and mouse in this mist. Do you?"- the assassin talked. Tazuna bowed his head with desperation.

"If we don't finish that bridge in a week, my people is doomed..."- he muttered, a single tear falling out of his eyes. Yamato was expressionless as ever, Sasuke was angered but focused and Sakura was afraid. The only one who was actually doing something was Karasu, who was performing a strange dance with a small scroll.

"We can't target him down with sight, hearing, taste or touch. That leaves out..."- he closed the scroll, held it with his teeth and mashed his palm on the floor.- "Kuchyiose no jutsu!"

Multiple growls and barks were heard as eight dogs appeared in front of the young Hatake. The dogs were very different from one another. Big, small, ferocious, cute. But one thing was shared among them, the loyalty they had towards their master.

"Pakkun, Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Uhei, Guruko, do me a favor and find out the Kirigakure bastard that's hiding in this mist. When you do so, pin him down. GO!"- Karasu ordered, and as soon as he finished that sentence, the dogs rushed towards one spot.

"GAH, FUCK, WHAT THE HELL?"- Zabuza shouted as the dogs barked at him and bit his arms and legs. The mist completely dissipated to reveal Zabuza, who was barely standing, pinned down to one spot by all eight dogs. There was absolutely no way he'd be able to run. Karasu slowly walked towards Zabuza, stopping two metres away from him.

"Smell was a nice way to take you down. No matter how good of an assassin you may be, you just can't trick these dog's noses. Oh well, it's the end for you now."- he lowered his hand and electricity startled to crack around it.

"Wait, the forehead protector hiding one eye, white hair and dogs as summons. You must be Copy ninja Kakashi's kid!"- Zabuza yelled. Karasu smirked.

"I see you know my father. Not that it matters, since your life ends here."- his hand was covered in lightning and he was about to run straight at the killer when three senbon were stuck in his neck. Out of nowhere. Karasu looked at the top of a tree branch by his right to see a ninja wearing Kirigakure's ANBU outfit.

"Finally. The threat that Zabuza posed to Kirigakure is no more."- the ninja disappeared only to appear by Zabuza's side.- "Could you please withdraw your dogs?"

Karasu frowned and looked at Yamato, who nodded. The white-haired boy whistled and all of the eight ninken came running back to him, leaving Zabuza's body to fall.

"You've made Kirigakure safer, and for that, I think you. Goodbye, I must dispose of the body."- the ANBU grabbed Zabuza's body and disappeared without a trace.

No words were spoken as the four ninja surrounded Tazuna who immediately bowed his head in shame.


End file.
